The End of a Hero's Life.

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The war was over, finally over. But that didn't help her much now, the tears still falling quietly and freely from her eyes.
Naruto… Sasuke… Now just two bloody corpses in the grass after what once had been her team-mates.

"Sakura!"

She spun around where she sat on her knees between the bodies of the two of her old team mates and recognized her old teacher running towards her.
He froze when he came absolute behind the three persons who had all once been his students.

"You are too late, Kaka-sensei. Why can't you ever be in time!?" Sakura screamed with the top of her lungs as she faced the bodies of Naruto and Sasuke again.

All of sudden she felt small vibrations through the ground as she heard Kakashi falling down to his knees.

"I will make it alright again Sakura. I promise. Start healing Sasuke."

Sakura nearly didn't hear what he said. It was barely a whisper- but she turned around to face him.

"What!? They're dead Kaka-sensei! Dead!"

She wanted to yell at him so badly, she was so angry.
She wanted to blame him for everything, even if she deep down already knew it wasn't his fault this happened.

"Check Sasuke again Sakura, he's alive- barely- but alive. I can hear his pulse."

Sakura quickly spun around again and checked Sasuke. He was right, Sasuke was alive!
Was Naruto that too? As if Kakashi had read her mind he told her:

"Heal Sasuke, Sakura. I will take care of Naruto. I will get him back."

At the same time as he told her that he rose up and knelt down at Narutos right side.

"But you aren't even a medic, and he's dead- what do you think you can do?"

A hand flew up and exposed his Sharingan. The Sharingan began to spin around and suddenly blue chakra glowed
from her ex-sensei hands as he moved them to lay on Naruto's chest.

"No, you didn't…" She stuttered. "Don't do it!"

"Yes, I did. And I will complete what I began."

"But how? Chiyo-sama was the only one who knew that technique. You'll die if you use it!"

Kakashi's dark eye met Sakuras green ones.

"I know. But I will save team 7, no matter what. I am the famous copy ninja after all, right? "

The wind swayed some of the few trees that still proudly stood around them and had survived the biggest fight in history.
Kakashi voice didn't show any signs of emotions, but when Sakura looked closely into his normal eye she saw a sadness in there,
a sadness she had never been able to see there before.
He was the one who never showed anyone his true emotions. The famous Sharingan no Kakashi.
Tears began to fall with new force from her face.

"No! I don't want to lose you either! You're in team 7 as much as we are!
And do you think Naruto will be happy to be alive just because you were stupid enough to sacrifice your life for him!?"

The sadness in Kakashi's eye grew stronger.

"Sakura, you know about the fourth Hokage, right? He was like a father to me after my own father died."

Sakura opened her mouth to say something, anything that could make him change his mind-
but to be honest she was so surprised that her sensei even had mentioned something from his days before he was team 7's sensei that she couldn't find any words.
Kakashi found he strength to continue before she found her words again.

"He's also Narutos dad. That makes me kind of a big brother to him when you think about it.
And I don't think you can find any sensei in this world that wants to watch his student die if he can prevent it.
Naruto will also become the Hokage one day- it would be a shame if I didn't let him have a chance to fulfill that dream now
when it is the only thing he has been talking about for almost 17 years now. Wouldn't it?"

Sweat started to fall down from his face. The technique was almost done now.

"Please. Please, stop it right now!" yelled Sakura, clearly horrified when she too noticed it.

A feeling of deja-vu filled Kakashi.
Those words were exact the same as she had screamed the first time Sasuke and Naruto fought for real, now meant for him.
He shook his head. He wouldn't stop.
When he was brought back to life by Pain his father told him that it probably was because he had something more to do before he died, and now he finally understood what he had to do.

A finger twitched on Naruto, and both Kakashi's and Sakura's eyes widened.

"Naruto!"

Narutos eyes didn't open, but Kakashi could now feel the pulse through Narutos body.
Did that mean that he would die now? Probably.
He felt the feeling of exhausting wash over him and he fell backwards.

"Sensei!"

Sakura grabbed him in the last second before he landed on the ground and carefully laid him down on his back in the grass next to Naruto.
Kakashi fought against the unconscious by now, but he had one more thing to do before he could let go of his life.

"Sakura…"

Her name came out barely as a whisper, but she heard him.

"Save your strength sensei! I will start heal you right away!"

Kakashi shook his head, as he tried to take something out from his pocket in his pants.
A trembling hand took out something and gave it to Sakuras outreaching hand. It was two bells.
Sakura gave Kakashi a confused look and you could see that a weak smile played on his lips even with the mask still on.

"When the time comes, make sure your Genin team goes through one hell of a bell-test.
I think you'll be the only one able to do a properly one. Naruto would probably just end up in one of the Genins traps."

He chuckled little at the last thought.
The tears began to fall again from Sakura's green emeralds to eyes.

"But you'll need them to your next team!"

Kakashi shook his head, again.
"I don't think so. Take care of yourself Sakura. And hit the baka from me in his head if he doesn't listen to you."

He pointed a weak thumb at Narutos direction.

"As for Sasuke… Think about what you really want Sakura, and be a clever woman."

His eyelids began to flutter.

"No, don't you dare to die on me! Come on sensei!"

But as the best medic in Konoha except for Tsunade-sama herself she knew that his body began to shut down.
Both his pulse and his chakra became weaker and weaker, and you could almost not see if he breathed or not anymore.
Sakura grabbed him in his collar and dragged him up in a sitting position before giving him a tight hug.
She buried her face in his neck as her tears soaked her ex-sensei's clothes. A faint whisper was heard from Kakashi.

"What did you say?"

"The mask. Take it off… I guess it's finally time for you to see my face."

Also this a faint whisper, only a bit louder than the last one.
Sakura let out a small gasp before unsure and trembling fingers came up to the edge of the mask
he had hided his face behind all these years. Bit for bit the mask came off and exposed…

"Why did you hide such perfectly normal face from us, Kaka-sensei?" she cried quietly when she gathered
the courage to look up at the very face who had been a mystery for so many years.
But she didn't get any answer.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Still no answer.

"Kaka-sensei!"

But his heart had already stopped and no pulse could be found.

"Kaka-sensei!!!"

The dam broke and she cried, loudly and harder than ever before, she didn't care if there were any enemies left.
This wasn't right, she hadn't even been able to stop him from doing it.

After a long time of crying she choked out a silently:
"You're a bigger idiot than Naruto, sensei. The biggest baka ever."

She was still crying hard and desperately hugging her old sensei tightly when Naruto hours later woke up.
Naruto just needed one look at Sakura to understand what his ex-sensei had done.


The fourth world war was over, but to which price? But even so I think Kakashi is happy in one way.
The last thing he did before he died was to save one of his students life,
and now he is where he belongs with both his mother and father, Minato-sensei, the third Hokage, Jiraiya-sama
and of course Rin and his best friend, Uchiha Obito.

Rest in peace Hatake Kakashi.


THE END